Fear Not

Three Wise Men

Chapter 49

December 25


Nehemiah 4:14


After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."

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Preface

Most of us are familiar with the Nativity story, having heard of the Magi, or Wise Men, who followed a star to visit Jesus following His birth in Bethlehem.


But most of us haven't heard the story of Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah. But before we get to know more about them, let's first re-connect with those who came after.


"After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, magi from the East came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.'"


"When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh" (Matthew 2:1-2,10-11).


In similar fashion during the holidays people often travel great distances, overcoming the challenges of airport security, flight delays and cancellations, and harsh weather conditions. We do this to say "I love you" through gift giving to our family and friends in celebration of Christmas. To love and give to each other is to love and give to Christ. (John 13:34-35)


The commentary given with the magi's story provides a contemporary comparison, one that helps articulate what faith over fear looks like:


"The magi traveled many hundreds of miles to see the King of the Jews. When they finally found him, they responded with joy, worship, and gifts. This is so different from the approach people often take today. We expect God to come looking for us, explain himself, prove who he is, and give us gifts. But those who are wise still seek and worship Jesus today not for what they can get from him but for who he is. God reveals himself to those who seek him and rewards them with faith []." (NIV Commentary, pg. 1582)


"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him" (Hebrews 11:6).


As we've learned so far over the course of this "Fear Not" journey, faith is everything. It's everything we want to give and it's everything we want to receive--as demonstrated about 532 years earlier by three different wise men.

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Nehemiah had a secure, influential position as the cupbearer to the Persian king, Artaxerxes. But his heart and mind put God first, and he was concerned about the welfare of God's temple and His people.


Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed in 586 BC by Nebuchadnezzar due to the Jews turning away from God. The survivors were exiled, going East to Babylon. (It is from here some historians believe the magi came, they having been Jews who stayed behind.) Nearly 50 years after the temple's destruction, in 538 BC, Zerubbabel and Joshua led the first group of exiles, numbering 50,000, back to Jerusalem. This group rebuilt the temple, completing it in 515 BC.


Eighty years after Zerubbabel's group returned, and about 58-years after the temple's completion, Ezra led a second group of exiles, numbering 2,000 men and their families, back to Jerusalem. Where Zerubbabel had been primarily tasked with the rebuilding of the temple, Ezra was tasked with rebuilding the Jews back into God's people.


Thirteen years later, Nehemiah, giving up the comfort and security of his position, traveled the 900 miles of dangerous and difficult territory with a small group tasked with rebuilding the walls around the temple.


In each case, Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah saw a problem and, "each according to their ability" (Matthew 25:15), stepped up to the challenge and with prayer and faith invested their talents in what needed to be done.


In other words, three wise men had shown up at the birthplace of God's temple on earth, providing what it needed so that it could start a new chapter on faith.


It's been famously said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." These three men, like the magi who'd come after, asked of themselves what could they do in service to God.


People who are predominated by fear tend to be trapped in a false sense of lack. They can't escape the feeling that there isn't enough. Compulsively they're driven to acquire more. They live according to a philosophy that the world somehow owes them something. This attitude crosses over into their prayer life. They only ever ask God for a handout, doing little to nothing for others. In fact, they're more likely to benefit themselves at the expense of others before actually helping anyone.


When those afraid say something like, "I don't know what I want," they're actually saying they're not willing to do the necessary work to get what they want.


Faith knows we have all we need within us to be of service. And it's from service we end up receiving everything we want.


Fear complains, but faith acts. Complainers don't do and doers don't complain.


Our three wise men were faithful doers. And all three were willing to sacrifice what they had for what they could create in service to God, as God would later do for all of us with His only begotten son.


The first wise man, Zerubbabel built the temple. This occurred in three steps:


1) The altar was built, upon which sacrifices could be made in worship of God.
2) The foundation was laid, the strength of which would determine the lifespan of the temple's integrity.
3) And the temple was built, God's house on earth.


Altar, foundation, temple. These represent our heart, feet and body. Our heart directs our steps in the building of ourselves and the legacy we leave behind, including the examples we've set and are remembered for, inspiring those who come after us.


We become the temple in which God resides; a lighthouse for the world.


Zerubbabel's work provided the place in which Ezra could do his work.


The second wise man, Ezra established a program of religious education. He was perfectly suited to this task, as he was: a scribe, dedicated to the careful study of God's word; an example, dedicated to personally obeying and applying the teachings he found in God's word; a teacher, committed to teaching others God's word and how to apply it to their lives.


Ezra arrived in Jerusalem to find the people spiritually compromised, living in sin. They represented broken lives, and he ensured they (re)learned and knew exactly what they had to do in order to put themselves back together again. He helped them come to live in alignment with God's will instead of with the will of the world.


Ezra's work of renewing the thoughts and behavior of the people set the stage for Nehemiah to play his role in God's overall plan to complete the redemption of Jerusalem.


Bringing us to the third wise man, Nehemiah would establish the physical components of security and the aesthetic presentation of God's house on earth, returning it to its full glory. He'd put back together the walls' broken pieces.


All three saw a problem and responded to solve it. This is what faith looks like. It's solution oriented. When someone sees a problem and is suddenly hit with an overwhelming need to solve it, because it'll address something the person finds incredibly important, that "hit" is the Spirit. And it always comes with this wellspring of faith that creates a sort of "knowing" for the person. They know that they're going to be the one who fixes it. And there's nothing and no one that's going to get in their way.


Fear complains and blames while doing nothing other than going on about its bare minimum existence of "just surviving."


After Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah were called to their respective tasks, they received favor, permission and material support from successive kings: Cyrus, from 559 to 530 BC; Darius, from 522 to 486 BC; Xerxes (Ahasuerus), from 486 to 465 BC; and Artaxerxes, from 465 to 424 BC. In other words, God made sure they had everything they needed for over 135 years through four ruling administrations. This in and of itself was a miracle.


Can you imagine today's political world, divided, poisoned, polarized, and paralyzed as it is by fear, being able to support any one goal over the course of four different administrations? (And that would represent, at the outset, only 32 years.)


Also, these three men of faith endured arduous journeys before getting to the job site and starting their work. And during their work, they encountered great opposition and threats of harm from people determined to see God's plans fail.


Jesus, our living, eternal temple, endured far greater hardship on His journey to the cross.


Similarly, when a big goal fills our heart, think of the journey involved with just getting ourselves to the point when we can start. For example, to start a business, the schooling, saving and document-development process, all of which can take years of work, before the foundation's completed to start building the actual company.


More over, our wise men preceded their actions and faced down the challenges they encountered with faith through prayer and detailed preparation. They followed the life principle of doing what we can with what we have where we are, and God will take care of the rest.


Nehemiah's playbook was consistent. In response to the threats made by Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod, Nehemiah and his people "prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat" (4:7-9). They prayed and prepared. They fortified themselves internally and externally, over and over again; every step of the way.


Also, in response to further threats made, Nehemiah prepared and encouraged the workers. First, he posted armed sentries where they'd best be able to prevent any potential attack. And then, after looking these preparations over, he "said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, 'Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your home.'"


Remember God and fight for family. And how were they to fight for their family? By working to build for them lasting security while always being ready to repel any, all attacks that may arise from the enemy.


"Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).


Half of Nehemiah's men worked. The other half served as armed security. And even the half who worked did so armed with sword. The "sword" represents "the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:17).


God used Nehemiah to perform the miracle of completing the wall around Jerusalem in only 52 days. Consequently, all the enemies and surrounding nations realized that God helped with the work and they became afraid, losing their self confidence. (Nehemiah 6:16)


The temple had been effectively risen from the dead.


Success needs no apologies. It earns respect from the nay sayers and saboteurs, quieting arrogance.


Notice how those established in a particular industry do everything they can to stop the next big disruptor that shows up. But no matter what they do, they always fail. Why? Because "founders" are like God's chosen. They usher in change that solves a problem no one else knew existed, making life better for many. And when the new industry is in place, it's like whatever had existed before had never existed at all. And those who fought so hard to keep it from happening end up becoming supporters.


When we commit to a task all the obstacles to that task will arise. These serve as steps on the staircase to our personal growth and to our goals realization. (James 1:2-3; Matthew 5:10-12) The challenges are the map to success.


Some of the oppositional steps we'll encounter will take the form of loved ones who'll try to talk us out of following our calling. Other forms will be competing interests attempting to undermine us and prevent our success. But obstacles exist only for those who've lost sight of the goal. Not that they don't arise, but they don't matter.


In faith, challenges are a cause for celebration and perseverance. They're the signs that we're on the right track. In fear, they're used to generate excuses and justifications for giving up.


So obstacles don't matter, because God's already instilled within us something far more powerful than any obstacles could ever be.


The end result of an inspired work completed is lasting protection and provision for all of us for generations to come.